U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth took to the skies on Sunday in the same model of fighter jet made famous by Tom Cruise in the movie TOPGUN.: Maverick.
The 45-year-old defense secretary joined pilots at Nevada’s Naval Air Station Fallon for a demonstration flight aboard an F/A-18 Super Hornet. Flying nearby was Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who piloted his own F-16 fighter jet during the event.
Hegseth tweeted about the ride: “The Chairman and I took a ride into the danger zone with TOPGUN at Naval Air Station Fallon. Incredible Americans.”
The post’s “danger zone” reference is a tribute to the Kenny Loggins anthem immortalized in the.same film.
Videos uploaded by Hegseth’s deputy assistant captured Hegseth climbing into the jet and taxiing across the tarmac to his careful descent down the aircraft’s ladder roughly an hour later.